![]() “That up-and-down was the key to the tournament,” he said. He chipped that to 3 feet to escape with bogey. He hammered it again, this time over the green, 70 feet away down a firm and scary putting surface. Barely able to see his golf ball, Clark took a whack and the ball advanced a few inches deeper into thick grass. This day belonged to Clark, who showed remarkable poise and self-belief, not to mention an extraordinary short game and a fairway metal he won't soon forget.Īlready with a two-shot lead, he was a yard away from an easy birdie on the par-5 eighth when his approach hit a steep bank of the barranca to the left. ![]() Open record with 23 birdies, but just like so many other majors when he had a chance, he was in reverse before he ever got going - three bogeys in the opening seven holes. He also closed with a 70 to finish third, a month after a runner-up finish in the PGA Championship.įowler set a U.S. Scheffler missed too many putts early on the back nine and needed help from Clark and McIlroy that never arrived. ![]() “I would go through 100 Sundays like this to get my hands on another major championship.” “When I do finally win this next major, it’s going to be really, really sweet,” McIlroy said. Instead, he'll face more questions about when he'll win another major. Andrews last summer at the British Open, when he hit every green and couldn't buy a putt. Even as Clark showed signs of cracking during the rugged closing stretch, McIlroy missed fairways and didn't give himself any reasonable birdie chances. McIlroy played a final round that typically wins a U.S. He opened with a birdie and didn't make another the rest of the way. But I know she’s proud of me.”įor McIlroy, it was more disappointment in his quest to end nine years without a major. “All I really wish is that my mom could be here and I could just hug her and we could celebrate together. I have some roots a little bit in this area. My parents got married at Riviera Country Club. "So it was kind of a special vibe all week being here in LA. “My mom lived in LA for a few years and I’ve had some people come up to me and show pictures of my mom when they knew her back in her 20s and early 30s when she was living here,” said Clark, who was born in Denver. He was thinking about her all week for all kinds of reasons. She was who kept him steady in good times and bad. He thought about quitting golf a decade ago when he struggled with the loss of his mother, Lise, to breast cancer. Clark was playing in the final round of a major for the third time, and the previous two occasions he was done in time for lunch.Ĭlark let loose his emotions at the end, looking to the blue sky in tears and covering his face with his cap as he sobbed on the green. Fowler was playing in the final group of a major for the third time. Neither could British Open champion Cameron Smith. 1 player in the world, couldn't catch him. Left in his wake was a collection of big names. He tapped that in for a par, maybe the easiest shot he had all day. ![]() The final act was two putts from 60 feet on the 18th hole at Los Angeles Country Club, and the 29-year-old Clark pumped his fist when it settled a foot away. “It's gone faster than I thought as far as just starting to do some stuff mentally that I’ve never done before, but I feel like I’m one of the best players in the world,” Clark said “Obviously this just shows what I believe can happen.” He won in only his seventh start in a major - his previous best was a tie for 75th - and it came six weeks after he captured his first PGA Tour title at Quail Hollow. ![]() “Even two, three years ago when people didn’t know who I was, I felt like I could still play and compete against the best players in the world.” “I feel like I belong on this stage,” Clark said after closing with an even-par 70 for a one-shot victory over McIlroy. That's where Clark delivered clutch saves, a signature shot that gave him control and the steady nerves to hold off McIlroy and become a major champion. Next to him in the final group Sunday was Rickie Fowler, a Southern California native who returned from a three-year slump and was poised to finally win his first major.Ĭlark carried a message from his late mother - “Play big,” she always told him - and the belief he could compete with anyone on any stage. In front of him was Rory McIlroy, one of golf's biggest talents who looked ready to end his perplexing nine-year drought in the majors. LOS ANGELES (AP) - In the city of stars, Wyndham Clark had his own script in mind in the U.S. ![]()
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